A Koi is a big Japanese
goldfish looking fish that some say can live over a hundred years. A
local bait shop had one named Earnie in an artificial fountain that
emptied into a two foot wooden bucket. Earnie was almost ten inches long
and for years swam slowly in circles in that two foot bucket. My
friend Manly had dug a big goldfish pond and told the bait shop people
that if they wanted, Earnie could come and live in his goldfish pond.
But Earnie was a pet and they hated to let him go.
For some reason, months later they decided to let Manly have Earnie the
Koi. Manly watched carefully to see what Earnie would do in that huge
pond and when released Manly was surprised to see that Earnie swam
slowly in a two foot circle. That was all he had ever done! This went on
for about two hours when suddenly Earnie took off in a straight line
about as fast as Manly had ever seen a fish swim! Now Manly says Earnie
only turns when he has to avoid hitting something and is one of the
fastest fish in the pond.
You may expect some kind of
"moral to the story" but there isn't one. It's just the story of Earnie
the Koi.